Suicide

Grace Wilting

WOODS
I talked to Grace Wilting!

LINLEY
Is her testimony trustworthy? Given that she is in a mental asylum!

WOODS
I thought about it. My impression of Grace Wilting is that she is a sane woman who went through some rough times.

LINLEY
Why is she confined to a mental asylum?

WOODS
Grace told me:
- They confined me into here because I told everyone that I'm gonna kill the president.

LINLEY
President Van Deepriver?

WOODS
Yes!

LINLEY
Why?

WOODS
Grace didn't give me a why:
- I have my reason! Everyone who knows what went on knows about it!

LINLEY
I don't know what to make of it!

WOODS
I asked Grace about Mary Ann:
- We weren't friends or something. But I think this thing connects people.

LINLEY
What thing?

WOODS
Grace talked about the abuse she suffered from the hands of Richard Flask:
- He was not the only one! The entire school was in on it! They knew. It happened in front of everyone's eyes.

LINLEY
What does Grace know about her abuse?

WOODS
Grace explained:
- I don't know much! Only fragments. Memories I cannot put together.
There were some girls. They had to go to the school doctor, Dr. Meatcrave. I was in pain. I remember that most of my time in school I was in physical pain. My entire body felt stiff and I felt tired. I remember days I couldn't sit on a chair. I felt dull and had a nauseating taste in my mouth. That's when the teachers sent us to Dr. Meatcrave.
Dr. Meatcrave had a special room. He said to me that his doctor's room would be different from all others.
I couldn't describe to him my pain. I couldn't tell what happened. I sometimes wept. I didn't know what was going on, what was happening to me. I felt like I had woken up from a painful nightmare or something. I heard things louder, I heard my heart throne, I was perspiring all over my body.
I told all of that to Dr. Meatcrave. He listen to me, then I saw him smiling and he would give me candy.
He told me that it is a special kind of candy, that would take away my pain. I still felt pain, but somehow I was happy, I felt joyful, I didn't know why. Dr. Meatcrave kept telling me: "Patients feel immediately better when they talk to the doctor!"

LINLEY
What did this doctor look like?

WOODS
Grace cannot remember:
- I only remember blurry faces. I remember his teeth, his smile, and his voice.

LINLEY
It is common for people with a mental disorder to see and remember people with blurry faces.

WOODS
I asked Grace about Mary Ann:
- She was one of the girls. Mary Ann couldn't sit sometimes on a chair without pain like other girls in class. Therefore the teachers gave us cushions to sit on!

LINLEY
They all knew!

WOODS
That's pretty much what former school principal Norman Cold told us.

LINLEY
But Norman Cold told us that he was oblivious to what was happening in his school. He didn't tell us that some of his teachers as well as the school doctor must have known what was going on. This means that it was not Richard Flask who could successfully evade detection but that most of the school staff were either complacent or looked the other way!

WOODS
Possible!

LINLEY
If Grace tells the truth! Because I have read in Grace Wilting's mental asylum file that she is a notorious liar.